A man was charged with drug trafficking after agents found more than 5 1/2 kilos of cocaine inside a piece of art and 800 grams of cocaine inside a freezer.

By Austin L. MillerStaff writer

Agents with the Unified Drug Enforcement Strike Team found more than 5½ kilograms of cocaine inside a piece of art, 800 grams of cocaine inside a freezer and $10,500 in cash inside an apartment and have charged a man with trafficking the drug, according to reports.

Gabriel Ayala-Quinones, 36, of Ocala, was booked Wednesday into the Marion County Jail. He remained there Thursday afternoon on $250,000 bond.Local officials said Orange County Sheriff's Office drug agents told them that a significant amount of drugs was coming into the Marion County area and that the OCSO agents delivered a package to them that contained drugs. The local strike team set up an operation to see who would collect the package, which was delivered to the address shown on it — 34 Fir Drive Track, Silver Springs Shores, according to reports.The agents watched as a man, later identified as Ayala-Quinones, signed for the package. A short time later, agents saw Ayala-Quinones put the package in the bed of a blue GMC pickup and drive away. They followed him to the Green Gables Apartments at 2600 SW 10th St., Ocala, where he took the package from the truck and carried it to an apartment. He left the building, but later returned, the reports note.Agents obtained search warrants for the Silver Springs Shores residence and the apartment.Inside the apartment, the agents saw Ayala-Quinones sitting at a kitchen table with some tools, preparing to cut open a metal frame on a piece of artwork that was in the package. A drug agent described the 3-foot-by-3-foot artwork as large squaremetal frame in which there was the image of a horse. The cocaine was in the metal frame.The agents searched the apartment and recovered $10,500 in cash and 800 grams of cocaine in a freezer in the kitchen. They brought the framed art piece to the Ocala Police Department, where it was disassembled and 5½ kilos of powdered cocaine was found inside.Ayala-Quinones was arrested and taken to the jail.Contact Austin L. Miller at 867-4118 or austin.miller@starbanner.com.